I've written about this before, but I don't think it was on this blog. The process of making a traditional Japanese katana has been on my mind recently, and it's something that has stood out to me for years. It's an amazing process that produces the most perfect swords the world has ever known.
The sword begins with an iron sand called tamahagane that is heated until it becomes solid metal. At this point the best pieces are selected and sent to the sword smith, a master craftsman, who takes the pieces he has received and further evaluates them, selecting only the best of those pieces to be forged into the sword. The process begins, the steel is heated, hammered, folded, over and over until the individual pieces become a unified whole. The blade is formed, heated and cooled, coated with clay, baked and cooled to give it the shape as well as different hardness between the edge and spine of the blade (this gives the cutting edge strength and durability, while allowing the spine to absorb vibrations from the impact of another sword during a fight).
When the blade is finally completed it is sharpened, polished, and then the handle is wrapped and it is fitted for a scabbard. The entire process takes around six months for a single sword, but when it is completed you have the perfect blade. The way the edge is formed makes it so that the sword almost never needs to be resharpened. The way that the steel is folded makes for a nearly indestructible blade. These things are amazing, beautiful, deadly, and I really want one, but the $3,500 price tag (and that's for a new one made in the traditional method here in the states) is a bit too high for me to justify.
This imagery has stood out in my mind as being relevant for so many things in life. It's perfect for a marriage, broken pieces becoming one and forming something amazing. It's an image of redemption, God taking something common, the dust of the earth, and making an amazing weapon He will use for His kingdom.
In all this, the thing that keeps hitting me at the moment is the process. Making a katana is an art form that is done by a master. These blades are deadly, and need to be wielded by a master. I've realized that as much as I would love to be the Samurai in this image, I'm not, and I'm not the blade smith either. In this image, I'm the tamahagane sand. God is the one who takes this sand and turns it into something He can use for His glory. It isn't an easy process, nor is it a fast one. It is slow, tedious, and intentional, but the end result is perfection.
The past few years of my life has been a time of forging. I've been heated, hammered, folded, over and over, and I feel that maybe God is finally starting to do some shaping of the blade, that's a big maybe. The process is slow and intense, but it's intentional and the end result is flawless perfection.
When I read the Bible I see that everything is moving towards this state of perfected restoration; God is taking creation back to the beginning, back to the garden. Eternity will not be a time of sitting on clouds playing harps, but a time where man has an assigned task of ruling the earth and subduing it, fulfilling the original assignment of Eden. With this in mind, I see this life as the forging process. God uses the trials we face to form, sharpen, and polish the blade, and it is at death when the katana is finished, placed in the scabbard, and presented to the warrior for use in battle.
This life is merely preparation for the next one, and it is in that life where we will fulfill God's original design.
Embrace the process of forging, knowing you are being shaped by a master in order to be wielded by a master.
Fight the lion, 1 Peter 5.1-11
TO GOD ALONE BE THE GLORY!
Tuesday, October 30, 2018
Tuesday, October 16, 2018
Pursuing Truth is Often...Pointless by Jacob
Seriously, what is the Point?
So. Much. Controversy. Who is right? Who is wrong? Who has the edge on truth? Who has the exhaustive list of answers everyone is seeking? How do we really know when it comes to things that aren't easily identifiable facts? Which is practically everything!
The short, easy answer is...its Jesus! Jesus is the point, He is the reason and the answer, and all answers to truth can be found in Him! But whenever that is lost - where and how we find truth - then we search for truth and make propositional statements about truth that force people into camps and either/or thinking. Everything in the West (practically) is built on dualistic, either/or thinking. Either I am a Democrat or a Republican, I cannot be both/and. Either I am for Trump or against Him. Either I am a Calvinist or an Armenian. Either I am an Evangelical or I am a Liberal. Either I agree with you, or I do not.
There is NO middle ground...or for that matter, no alternative. And yet, to use a really interesting story from Scripture, in Joshua 5:14, Joshua met a stranger with his sword drawn. He asked this stranger, which was really God, or in theological terms a Theophany (like an epiphany is the “a-ha” moment, a sudden appearance of an idea, this is an appearance of God. Though I personally believe it was a Christophany, or the appearance of Christ), but Joshua asked whether he was for Israel or for his adversaries. He replied, “No...”. He was neither! He would not place himself in either of those camps!
Now, because of Jesus, because He came to reveal and demonstrate that there was an alternative kingdom, I get to also maintain this middle ground. I am neither. I am both. I am not against anyone. I don’t need to be. But if I was against anything, it would be against religion that corrupts and doesn’t allow people to realize they already have access to God! If you don’t believe me, then why did the Temple veil tear from top to bottom?
Jesus spoke concerning the religious of his day and told a group of people called Lawyers (the term for those who studied and expounded the law of Moses), “Woe to you, Lawyers, you have taken away the KEY TO KNOWLEDGE. You did not enter yourselves and you hindered those from entering.” (Luke 11:52)
Or elsewhere Jesus said, “"But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in. (Matt 23:13)
Woe to anyone who puts things in front of people and hinders them from entering the Kingdom of God! When we make the kingdom of God a race issue, woe unto us! When we make the Kingdom of God a political issue, woe unto us! When we make it a socio-economic issue, and American issue, or even a religious issue...anything that keeps people away from Jesus, woe unto us! When we make it any other thing than simply following Jesus, woe unto us! Jesus came to remove all barriers and hindrances for all people at all times!
Don’t you know that any justice issue is simply an issue where we remove Jesus? When we fail to see human dignity (which categorizes all justice issues), then we remove Jesus from them and place them into a specific camp or category. The Image of God places dignity upon each and every person. They carry a facet of Jesus, whether they believe in Him or not, and that demands dignity for every person. They actually DESERVE it.
No political issue, no “just-war”, Trump or Hillary, American or Middle-Eastern, White or Black, Islam or Buddhist or Hindu or Jew...nothing comes between people and Jesus! There is no barrier now! Jesus did away with barriers! And who are we to think we have the key of knowledge! Woe unto us!
I am thankful Jesus made a way for all to enter into the Kingdom of God! And if you are confused at to what God thinks about all of this? Just look at Jesus! Read what He said! He kind of spoke both for and as God.
So. Much. Controversy. Who is right? Who is wrong? Who has the edge on truth? Who has the exhaustive list of answers everyone is seeking? How do we really know when it comes to things that aren't easily identifiable facts? Which is practically everything!
The short, easy answer is...its Jesus! Jesus is the point, He is the reason and the answer, and all answers to truth can be found in Him! But whenever that is lost - where and how we find truth - then we search for truth and make propositional statements about truth that force people into camps and either/or thinking. Everything in the West (practically) is built on dualistic, either/or thinking. Either I am a Democrat or a Republican, I cannot be both/and. Either I am for Trump or against Him. Either I am a Calvinist or an Armenian. Either I am an Evangelical or I am a Liberal. Either I agree with you, or I do not.
There is NO middle ground...or for that matter, no alternative. And yet, to use a really interesting story from Scripture, in Joshua 5:14, Joshua met a stranger with his sword drawn. He asked this stranger, which was really God, or in theological terms a Theophany (like an epiphany is the “a-ha” moment, a sudden appearance of an idea, this is an appearance of God. Though I personally believe it was a Christophany, or the appearance of Christ), but Joshua asked whether he was for Israel or for his adversaries. He replied, “No...”. He was neither! He would not place himself in either of those camps!
Now, because of Jesus, because He came to reveal and demonstrate that there was an alternative kingdom, I get to also maintain this middle ground. I am neither. I am both. I am not against anyone. I don’t need to be. But if I was against anything, it would be against religion that corrupts and doesn’t allow people to realize they already have access to God! If you don’t believe me, then why did the Temple veil tear from top to bottom?
Jesus spoke concerning the religious of his day and told a group of people called Lawyers (the term for those who studied and expounded the law of Moses), “Woe to you, Lawyers, you have taken away the KEY TO KNOWLEDGE. You did not enter yourselves and you hindered those from entering.” (Luke 11:52)
Or elsewhere Jesus said, “"But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in. (Matt 23:13)
Woe to anyone who puts things in front of people and hinders them from entering the Kingdom of God! When we make the kingdom of God a race issue, woe unto us! When we make the Kingdom of God a political issue, woe unto us! When we make it a socio-economic issue, and American issue, or even a religious issue...anything that keeps people away from Jesus, woe unto us! When we make it any other thing than simply following Jesus, woe unto us! Jesus came to remove all barriers and hindrances for all people at all times!
Don’t you know that any justice issue is simply an issue where we remove Jesus? When we fail to see human dignity (which categorizes all justice issues), then we remove Jesus from them and place them into a specific camp or category. The Image of God places dignity upon each and every person. They carry a facet of Jesus, whether they believe in Him or not, and that demands dignity for every person. They actually DESERVE it.
No political issue, no “just-war”, Trump or Hillary, American or Middle-Eastern, White or Black, Islam or Buddhist or Hindu or Jew...nothing comes between people and Jesus! There is no barrier now! Jesus did away with barriers! And who are we to think we have the key of knowledge! Woe unto us!
I am thankful Jesus made a way for all to enter into the Kingdom of God! And if you are confused at to what God thinks about all of this? Just look at Jesus! Read what He said! He kind of spoke both for and as God.
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